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No Confidence Vote for Sweetwater Union HS District Interim Superintendent Edward Brand
Dr. Edward Brand has made several questionable decisions since his return as Interim Superintendent of the Sweetwater Union High School District. Most recently, he eliminated bus routes and increased walking distances for students in excess of 3 1/2 miles, opened school boundaries throughout the district causing significant overcrowding at certain schools, spent over $500,000 to remove a pile of dirt from a school campus, authorized the spending of millions of dollars in mello Roos & Prop O Construction funds to purchase iPads, used district funds to start and fund a charter school for pre-school and elementary school students, authorized the borrowing of Mello Roos funds to cover district payroll and operating expenses, and is planning to start another charter school that focuses on elementary aged children during the next school year.
The elimination of bus routes has put students personal safety at risk as they battle increased vehicle traffic, walk long distances with heavy backpacks, and are exposed to criminals and sex offenders during their travel to and from school. This decision was made to save $800,000 in the budget. This $800,000 savings was negated when over $500,000 was spent on the removal of unauthorized contaminated soil placed on the campus of Southwest High School.
The overcrowding caused by the open boundary decision has created crowded classes that are not conducive to student learning, created significant traffic & logistical problems for teachers and staff and caused many class changes for students after the 6th week of instruction.
Under Dr. Brand's leadership, Mello Roos funds continue to be used outside of the disticts they were intended to serve and for purposes that do not fall into authorized uses for these funds. The use of nearly $2 million in mello roos funds for iPads for all 7th graders is one example of the abuses the mello roos funds. At the July 2012 board meeting, Dr. Brand convinced the school board to vote to increase mello roos funds by an additional 2%. This was done without notice to the public and solicitation of public input. The district also continues to borrow from the mello roos funds to the tune of $67 million to cover payroll and operating expenses, like funding charter schools that do not serve the grade 7-12 student population Under Dr. Brand's leadership, the district has not engaged in any programs designed to improve academic achievement. Dr. Brand's attention is focused only on raising money to fund programs unrelated to academic achievement and the financing of political campaigns for board members to support his non academic agenda.
If you are resident/taxpayer of Chula Vista, National City, Imperial Beach, San Ysidro, or areas of San Diego served by the Sweetwater Union High School District, a parent of a sweetwater union student, a teacher or other employee of the sweetwater union district, you should sign this petition to register your vote of NO CONFIDENCE in the Interim Superintendent Edward Brand. Your vote of NO CONFIDENCE will send a strong message to the board members who are considering awarding this superintendent a new 2 year contract. By signing this petition, you send the message to the School Board Trustees that you want them to start the National Search for a New Superintendent as they promised to do over a year ago. The time for unity and courage is now! Together this community can affect postive change for our students.
No Confidence Vote for Sweetwater Union HS District Interim Superintendent Edward Brand
Dr. Edward Brand has made several questionable decisions since his return as Interim Superintendent of the Sweetwater Union High School District. Most recently, he eliminated bus routes and increased walking distances for students in excess of 3 1/2 miles, opened school boundaries throughout the district causing significant overcrowding at certain schools, spent over $500,000 to remove a pile of dirt from a school campus, authorized the spending of millions of dollars in mello Roos & Prop O Construction funds to purchase iPads, used district funds to start and fund a charter school for pre-school and elementary school students, authorized the borrowing of Mello Roos funds to cover district payroll and operating expenses, and is planning to start another charter school that focuses on elementary aged children during the next school year.
The elimination of bus routes has put students personal safety at risk as they battle increased vehicle traffic, walk long distances with heavy backpacks, and are exposed to criminals and sex offenders during their travel to and from school. This decision was made to save $800,000 in the budget. This $800,000 savings was negated when over $500,000 was spent on the removal of unauthorized contaminated soil placed on the campus of Southwest High School.
The overcrowding caused by the open boundary decision has created crowded classes that are not conducive to student learning, created significant traffic & logistical problems for teachers and staff and caused many class changes for students after the 6th week of instruction.
Under Dr. Brand's leadership, Mello Roos funds continue to be used outside of the disticts they were intended to serve and for purposes that do not fall into authorized uses for these funds. The use of nearly $2 million in mello roos funds for iPads for all 7th graders is one example of the abuses the mello roos funds. At the July 2012 board meeting, Dr. Brand convinced the school board to vote to increase mello roos funds by an additional 2%. This was done without notice to the public and solicitation of public input. The district also continues to borrow from the mello roos funds to the tune of $67 million to cover payroll and operating expenses, like funding charter schools that do not serve the grade 7-12 student population Under Dr. Brand's leadership, the district has not engaged in any programs designed to improve academic achievement. Dr. Brand's attention is focused only on raising money to fund programs unrelated to academic achievement and the financing of political campaigns for board members to support his non academic agenda.
If you are resident/taxpayer of Chula Vista, National City, Imperial Beach, San Ysidro, or areas of San Diego served by the Sweetwater Union High School District, a parent of a sweetwater union student, a teacher or other employee of the sweetwater union district, you should sign this petition to register your vote of NO CONFIDENCE in the Interim Superintendent Edward Brand. Your vote of NO CONFIDENCE will send a strong message to the board members who are considering awarding this superintendent a new 2 year contract. By signing this petition, you send the message to the School Board Trustees that you want them to start the National Search for a New Superintendent as they promised to do over a year ago. The time for unity and courage is now! Together this community can affect postive change for our students.